Release 13 with major new versions of MATLAB and Simulink

Citation

(2003), "Release 13 with major new versions of MATLAB and Simulink", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 75 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2003.12775aab.009

Release 13 with major new versions of MATLAB and Simulink

Release 13 with major new versions of MATLAB and Simulink

Keywords: Software, Production, Engineering

The MathWorks recently announced that Release 13 is the latest version of its family of software offerings. MATLAB 6.5 includes new JIT Acceleration, which is said to provide faster execution, reportedly making MATLAB 6.5 a powerful alternative to manual coding in C for technical computing applications. Simulink 5 provides new support for multi-domain modelling and simulation coupled with embedded target support, creating an environment for the end-to-end process of embedded system design.

Release 13 of The MathWorks product family also includes 10 new products and upgrades of more than 40 other products. More than 50,000 of The MathWorks customers, worldwide are expected to download the updated products as part of the initial distribution.

“With Release 13, The MathWorks takes a major step to eliminate the performance gap between MATLAB and languages such as C, C++, and FORTKAN for engineering and scientific applications. For developers of embedded systems, Simulink 5 delivers powerful new capabilities for developing and deploying real-time systems in a production process”, said Jack Little, CEO, The MathWorks. “Our customers rely on our products to achieve technology breakthroughs and productivity advances. The capabilities in Release 1 will benefit all of our customers, across industries such as aerospace, automotive, biotechnology, communications, and financial services.”

MATLAB is said to be recognised as a defacto industry-standard environment for productively exploring technical ideas and developing algorithms that solve complex problems. With the new built-in JIT-Accelerator technology, MATLAB 6.5 programs are stated to run faster, in some cases hundreds of times faster than before. When combined with the long established productivity gain of working in the intuitive MATLAB programming language, the accelerated MATLAB performance enables users to skip the additional step and trouble of recoding their work in C. They can use a single environment throughout their projects, with the option to automatically deploy algorithms and applications as C/C++ code, Excel add-ins, and COM objects.

“MATLAB is an indispensable tool for us”, said Douglas Stein of New Frontier Advisors LLC, a financial institution. “We have a team of R&D engineers who work in MATLAB and directly compile stand-alone applications. We need not have an army of C programmers to translate MATLAB programs. By skipping over the steps of the traditional method of developing in one product, then translating to C, we decrease our time to market. And now, we can stay in the MATLAB environment for running many of our applications and do not even need to go to C.”

With Release 13, Simulink addresses the end-to-end development process from system-level modelling to embedded-software code generation. Simulink 5 provides new capabilities including multi-domain modelling for mechanical, electrical power, and wireless systems; production code generation for microcontrollers; and major improvements in DSP code generation. These enhancements address the key steps in embedded-system development, including modelling the physical behaviours of real systems, designing software algorithms, and generating code that is as efficient and compact as hand-written code for target processors.

“The multi-domain modelling and simulation capabilities of Simulink 5, coupled with its enhanced code generation capability, will have a strong impact on how embedded systems are designed and implemented”, said Paul Zorfass, senior analyst with International Data Corporation/FTI. “I expect that the features for embedded-system development will address the needs of existing Simulink users and also extend the product’s use in software engineering groups that develop embedded system software.”

Details available from: The MathWorks Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 1223 423200; Fax: +44 (0) 1223 423289; E-mail: dthompson@mathsworks.co.ltd; Web site: www.mathworks.co.uk